Healthy smiles, happy kids

Children love chocolates and sweet treats — and while we love to see their joy, these foods can make it difficult to protect their oral health. Many parents assume milk teeth don’t matter since they fall out anyway. But the truth is, infections in milk teeth can spread to permanent teeth, affecting a child’s smile for life.

Healthy milk teeth are also essential for proper nutrition. When children struggle to chew due to cavities or pain, it can lead to poor nutrition and even stunted growth.

What can we do?

• Limit sticky sweets like chocolates and clean teeth immediately afterward.

• Be mindful with sweet drinks, as they worsen the effect of sugary foods.

• Protect deep grooves in teeth with fluoride sealants to prevent food lodgement and cavities.

Treatments for children’s oral health include

• Regular cleaning (scaling) to remove plaque and tartar

• Fluoride sealants for cavity prevention

• Dental fillings for small cavities

• Pulpotomy or pulpectomy if cavities are too deep

At ORR Dental, we make dental visits comfortable and positive for kids because a healthy smile today builds a confident tomorrow.

Protecting space for your child’s permanent teeth

When a child’s tooth is removed due to infection, leaving the space empty can cause problems. The neighboring teeth may drift into the gap, leaving little or no room for the permanent tooth to erupt. This often leads to crowding and misaligned teeth.

To prevent this, we use a small device called a space maintainer. It gently holds the adjacent teeth in place, keeping the gap open until the permanent tooth is ready to erupt. Once the new tooth begins to come in, the space maintainer is removed.

There are different types of space maintainers depending on which tooth is lost (molar, premolar, etc.), and they are only used when needed — not if the permanent tooth is already erupting.

With this simple solution, we help guide your child’s teeth into proper alignment and ensure a healthier smile for the future.